12 Things For 12/12/12

This is going to be a strange post, and it’s all China Ya’s fault. On Facebook, she wrote something saying that she’d missed the date 12/12/12, the only one all of us will see in our lifetime (well, anyone that’s able to read now anyway), only to realize later on, after I and a couple other people mentioned something about it, that she had the date wrong. Then she kind of challenged me to write something on the date and have it release at 12:12PM.

What, now I’m a writer? Oh yeah, I am. And I am the guy who wrote about blogging and creativity after all. I decided to take on the challenge. I’m going to write about 12 things, some you probably won’t care about but hey, it’s 12 things; 12 thoughts I have on my mind that I’m going to share. Will they all be popular or nonsensical? I don’t know yet; I’m being creative. Here we go.

1. I’ve lived in this house of mine 12 years now. Officially we’ve owned it since August, but we didn’t move in until October 1st. It’s by far the longest I’ve ever lived in one location; before that it was 5 years.

2. I’m not registered in any political party, though my politics lean left; I don’t think there’s any secret to that second part. Why don’t I belong to a party? Because overall I don’t like being in large groups where people are expected to believe in the same thing in the same exact way. When that kind of thing occurs, very little good seems to come of it long term. And explains why…

3. I don’t trust religion and I don’t believe in any gods. That’s striking to a lot of people because I’ve never drank, cursed, taken any illicit drugs or smoked a cigarette. By the way, how many of those who consider themselves totally pious can say that?

More people have died in this world over religious beliefs than racism; that should be shocking but it’s not. How many people cry for religious freedom and yet when someone disagrees with them they label them a heathen or non-believer, even if they believe. Nope, don’t care.

4. I think there should be mandatory parenting classes for anyone who becomes a parent under the age of 30. These wouldn’t be classes on how to raise a child to adulthood because no one would remember any of that. But I tend to believe more parents should know how to handle the first year and why that year is so important to the lifetime development of a child. I believe it would help every potential parent not only come to grips with what’s coming but also realize they’re not in it alone. Hillary Clinton was right; it does, and should, take a village to raise a child.

5. While I’m at it, I believe in a woman’s right to choose whether or not to have a baby and I don’t believe fathers should have any say in it. However, I believe all father’s should be forced to pay child support for those children, and I believe the dollar amounts should be a standard percentage so those fathers aren’t being hurt to the extent that they can’t have a life if they decide not to be in that child’s life. It took two to have that child, so it should take two to raise that child, and if that means the mother needs to work, then so be it.

6. Though I believe that people often deserve consequences for their actions, I also believe that maybe sometimes we take it to the extreme. Shooting someone in the face because they looked at you wrong is way over the top. Yelling at someone because your child is disturbing the peace of everyone else is way over the top. There’s definitely a lack of responsibility that’s growing in this world, and a lack of common decency as well.

I’m not immune to some bad behavior here and there but I never yell at people and I haven’t hit anyone since I was 18, though I’ve wanted to. I haven’t totally learned to turn the other cheek but I am learning how to be bated into exchanges with trolls, no matter where they are. I’m growing up! 🙂

7. You need to know about your health. Some of you might remember my post on the relationship between health and your dreams. In the past few weeks I’ve had some friends who have just discovered they have maladies they didn’t know about because they hadn’t gone to the doctors in awhile, and one who learned of his malady even though he had been going. He told me that he just figured it would go away, but without taking the precautions against its possibility it became an eventuality.

You know when you’re feeling “off”. Folks, doctors aren’t perfect but they have more training than you, and they know as well that stuff doesn’t just “go away”, even if you don’t feel as bad days later. Don’t become a bad statistic; check yourself out if you’re not feeling up to par.

8. What do you want to do with your life? Who do you admire, and why? Who can help you get to where you’d like to be? Are you ready for success? And what about Naomi? Other than that last question, these are things we all need to ask ourselves on a continual basis if we feel down, depressed, stuck in a nothing position in life whether it’s professional or personal or just want something more and better. There are great lessons out there, people who have already been through it.

Heck, you’ve probably already been through some things that have helped shape who you are that you’ve forgotten. Not that there’s anything wrong with you but if you feel there is, you need to know that it takes little to be better, it takes a lot to be much better, but that every day you have another chance to start anew; you just have to do it. By the way, who can tell me where the line “and what about Naomi” came from? lol

9. This is a quickie because some of you might not realize it yet. There’s a new WordPress update, 3.5, but I’m going to tell you to wait at least a week before you update it. I did it on two blogs before realizing it conflicted with some of my plugins, which is irksome. This only happened yesterday so I don’t have any answers yet. However, it’s always recommended to wait at least a few days or until you read what someone else has to say about an update before you do it. I should have known better; sigh…

10. You may not have heard this but as of the beginning of the year, your cable service, no matter where you are in the U.S., can start scrambling your television signal if you don’t have a cable box. They actually have to give you 30 days notice, so if you’ve received a letter already you know about it. They say they’re doing this because they’re trying to stop cable theft, and Congress passed it; those weasels.

No cable company has yet come out and said whether they’re going to do it but Cablevision got permission to do it in NYC in 2010 as a test. They said they didn’t get any complaints; they’re lying of course because I know at least 5 people who complained and got nothing. How much more will it cost you? No idea, but I have 8 TV’s in my house and only 2 with boxes; I’m scared.

11. Did you know that the song 12 Days of Christmas was actually a Roman Catholic catechism that was created during a period of time when Catholicism wasn’t allowed in England? Each verse had a specific meaning and used code words to represent different biblical references which no one else knew; that’s the power of music. Isn’t that freaky?

12. I don’t specifically hate anyone. I don’t know a person I hate, though I know some I don’t trust. There are groups of people I hate, and some relatively famous people I hate because of their hate. I hate concepts like racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. I hate some groups because they have the capacity for being over the top.

I don’t love a lot of people, but I like a lot of people. I like to laugh. I actually like to smile a lot. I love my music, which of course is disco and classical mainly. I love science fiction, action and cartoon films & TV shows. I like people who comment on my blog and show me the kind of dignity I try to show them on their blogs, even when I disagree with them. Overall, I like people and I tend to believe that even with a few bad eggs here and there humanity has a lot going for it. I believe we’re going to be alright long term. I hope you believe that as well.

That’s all I have and yes, it’s a long post. And I wrote it all in one sitting, no notes, until it was done.

This post has 22 comments

Well, you may not believe in heaven but wouldn’t hell be a place where you can only speak to people who agree with you?

1. Creator one love
2. 2 People 1man and 1women = 1marriage
3. Primary colors red blue yellow are visible by the naked eye.
4. Main powers rule the entire world. US UK CHINA RUSSIA
5. Fingers on each hand. one of five is 20% = the tax required by Pharoah and his co-signer Joesph.
6. Rounds in my favorite S&W revolver for self defense.
7. Good years and 7 bad as it is written in Genesis.
8. King Henry the 8th the man big government lovers forget about he once decided that he was in charge of everything.
9. Yards. The size of your house when the greenies are done regulating it.
10. percent is all anyone should ever have to pay for tax.
11. 7-11 made big news all over my town this year when they announced they are opening several new stores. Want great career? There ya go.
12. Months from now people will start to see how bad the economy really is. You think 2008 was bad wait till you get a load of 2016.Jacko recently posted…You are invited – RSVP Only

Interesting list Jacko. Course, your last one indicates that in 12 months it’ll be 2016; no, I don’t think so. lol As to your initial statement, no, that wouldn’t be a bad thing at all. After all, I live in Syracuse where at least 80% of us are Syracuse Orange fans, and that other 20% isn’t from here so they don’t count. lol

That’s an interesting prediction Jacko. We all had better hope you’re wrong, and I definitely hope you’re wrong. I don’t necessarily want to tell you that you’re wrong but I’ve tracked the economy since December 2008 and, well, the numbers are going against you. If there’s a fall by 2016 it won’t be because of anything occurring now. So, it could happen, but there’s no cause and effect with how things are going now, which are actually way better.

My best friend is an atheist but I don’t hold it against him. The way I look at it he is entitled to his view and I have no right to force him to take on mine.

I’ve lived in my home for some 27 hears and I have no reason to move, although the wife would love to 😀 I told her as soon as she got a job that would pay for the home loan we’ll move.Sire recently posted…Increase The Money Potential With WP Zon Builder

Nice post, Mitch and definitely very creative. With some points our opinion overlap, so I will just mention the differences. I have moved so many times in my life, but for about 14 years, I have lived in my parents house, after that I have been to many different places around the world where I don’t stay for long. I have politics, this is one dirty game. I have been Christian, Satanic, Bhudist and honestly I don’t believe in any of them, call me man of science. Parental classed it isn’t necessary, parents become parents not right after the birth of child, but much after that, if you try to prepare yourself to be a parent before it happen on after that, or if you think what does it take to be a parent, probably will never be ready and knowledge will never be enough. I don’t respect women that pursue career, prefer Japanese way where women not work and take care for kids at home! Nobody was really prepared for 3.5, I updated 5 blogs yesterday without a problem, because I have only 2-3 plugins installed there that doesn’t interfere, the rest i left for week after. Hate, hm well I do hate few people that I thought to be some of closest people to me, but it turned out to be the opposite. I like any kind of music and smart jokes.

Interesting stuff Carl. I’m betting that if you lived in the U.S. and had your opinion on women that you’d be getting a lot of grief, but I almost expect it in your area of the world. Also, you have to realize I’m writing this from an American perspective across the board, and trust me, in this day and age there’s way too many people becoming parents without having any idea of what to do and not having anyone to ask for help.

As for the rest… I’m going to leave them since you didn’t address any of the things we possibly agree on. Thanks for sharing; that’s why this is here. lol

I doubt that it depends on the area, women are the same everywhere. What you think a women prefer to work 50 hours a week or just take care for kids and go shopping, or just to help your business and cook nice meals.

I definitely figure out that you are writing from American perspective, but I didn’t want to mention it, technically all the differences in opinion are coming from this factor. About parenting and asking for help, well Mitch, my son was born when I was at the age of 25, as you know I am living abroad, nobody help me with anything, as you see I am dealing with everything just fine. This just require common sense. To be prepared for what? Every young parent get in panic when kid catch a cold or fall down. Everybody get shy when kid say something that should not, or just get too stressed out when run out of milk. Kids sleep about 18 hours a day until they become about 6 months old, so I don’t see much of a problem. On the other hand I think there should be classes for parent of teenagers, this is tough period when things can go completely wrong for some obvious reasons.

Good that we will never have a 13/13/13! What would you have come up with had there been one?

I hope that these twelve are not the only ones that occupy your mind!

We too have to get set top boxes for cable connections and I am in love with them. The quality of images and sound have gone up substantially with the installation. There was no fuss at all. The cable guys simply phoned to fix an appointment, came and installed and commissioned the box, showed me how to operate the second remote control device and we were in business.Rummuser recently posted…Fun As Incentive &#8211; II

Rummuser, I’d have come up with one more if I’d had 13 to go with; did you not see my 100 things about me post? lol

Cable boxes aren’t bad, as I have two, but I also have 8 TV’s and I don’t want to pay $8 per box for the rest of them if I only need basic channels on those TV’s. It’s a much different thing for me because of that.

I love your #12 Mitch, I feel the same way. hate is too strong a word or feeling. I may dislike very few people but not hate. I was unaware of #11 – interesting tidbit I must say. #9 – I’m definitely waiting, I always do now – got burned before by updating asap and the kinks were not worked out and I almost lost the blog. (Great advice there!) I also love # and how odd you lived in the same place for 12 years. I’m thinking ahead to 2013.Lisa recently posted…13 Blogs To Learn From in 2013 for Your Website&#8217;s Success

Good stuff Lisa. Yeah, I’m still irked because that plugin is still messed up with my theme and I want that bad boy because it protects my content. Still, I’m glad I I wrote the post because it was a lot of fun.

What can I say, Mitch, you’ve done it. Thanks for sharing your very own ’12 things’, now I get to know you a little bit more. I agree with #4 and #7. Actually I think parenting class should be held for any parent-to-be regardless how old he/she is, especially if he/she doesn’t have anyone experienced to guide him/her. Didn’t know about #11 either, wow…Ching Ya recently posted…21 Pinterest Tips to Build Your Brand Visibility

Nice list, Mitch! I must say you are really creative when it comes to writing article with enchanting titles. This article gave a closer insight about you, which I liked it. As an author, one should know that sometimes readers expect more about the author in personal rather writing details in “About us”. I like your point #8 and #12.

#8-Sometimes in life you really need to give a second thought or just remind yourself about things you need to keep focus on. It happens with me a lot (can’t deny).

#12- Certainly, I really don’t hate a person, it’s just that the person has lost my trust because for me trust is more important than anything. For hating you really need to have a strong feeling and grudges. Hate is a big term and I believe one shouldn’t use it without any reason.

I must appreciate the effort you have put behind writing this long post. Thanks Mitch for sharing this!

Thanks for your comment Mario. I think we all lose focus here and there; I’ve lost some focus over the last couple of weeks waiting on news about a potential consulting assignment and I’m working on getting it back now. As to the other one, it’s a tough call because there are some people whose points of view I totally disagree with and sometimes they anger me enough to say I hate them. Yet I don’t know them, thus it’s hate at the concept and maybe not the person so much. I need to keep remembering that because of how people who get into that moment of hate actually act, as we saw yesterday with the nutcase killing those kids in Connecticut.